In recent years, it has become increasingly popular to form office-like work areas in large rooms by partitioning the large rooms into small areas using upright partitions. Typically, such partitions are high enough to provide visual privacy when persons therein are seated or standing, but generally extend to less than ceiling height.
One of the desirable features of such systems is their flexibility, i.e. many can be disassembled, rearranged and reassembled as the requirements of a particlar office environment change from time to time.
Therefore, those systems which are most flexible are most advantageous. Factors which make such systems more or less flexible include the mechanical complexity of assembly and disassembly, the number of parts which must be manipulated, and the degree to which the panels themselves must be physically moved during their rearrangement. For example, disassembly of some systems requires that the individual panels be moved to such an extent that the presence of adjacent office floors, ceilings and walls may hamper or even preclude disassembly. Obviously, a system which requires a large volume of space to make small changes will be disadvantageous in many environments.
Additionally, as is evident from review of patent references in this area, many such office partition systems are assembled using a bewildering amount and complexity of individual parts and therefore suffer from the concurrent disadvantages of being both hard to keep track of and difficult to assemble.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a locking system for interconnecting wall panels which is characterized by a reduced number of individual component parts.
It is another object of this invention to provide a system for interconnecting wall panels which can be easily assembled and disassembled without a plurality of small mechanical fasteners such as screws.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a system for interconnecting wall panels which provides locking stability in horizontal, vertical and torsional fashion.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a panel system which includes raceway portions for channeling wiring and the like within the system.